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I’m reminded of the Mark Twain essay, The Awful German Language where he says: “In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has. Think what overwrought
by derriz 6y ago
I’m reminded of the Mark Twain essay, The Awful German Language where he says:
“In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has. Think what overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl.”
Despite its age the essay* is well worth a read for native English speakers struggling to learn German.
* https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/twain.german.html https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/texts/twain.german.html
- qayxc 6y agoMark Twain was making fun - the essay isn't supposed to be taken seriously. His conclusion would also be wrong, since the grammatical gender has nothing to do with he biological gender - it's the gender assigned to all diminutive forms, regardless of grammatical gender. E.g. "der Vater" (the father) becomes "das Väterchen" just as well without loosing his proverbial balls in the process.
- derriz 6y agoWell yes - it's clearly a joke? It seems so obvious to me that I didn't think it needed to be pointed out when I quoted it.